Standardized testing is not only the latest in a series of right wing ploys with billionaire backers aimed at systematically dismantling and privatizing public education, but is also a massive rip-off that diverts millions of dollars and much needed resources from education to corporate scam artists.  This has the added benefit of taking the joy out of learning and turning our children into mindless zombies who may know how to take tests but couldn’t think critically if their lives depended on it.  -A win-win proposition guaranteed to deliver the just the kind of citizens needed for the burgeoning austerity society.
This January, Seattle teachers at historic Garfield HS, rebelled and voted unanimously to stop administering the widely used and highly unfair standardized Measure of Academic Progress ( MAP ) test.  They were soon joined by the faculties at Ballard HS, Chief Sealth HS, the Center School and Orca K -8. These teachers are now facing the threat of "consequences" for refusing the give the test. Students and parents are joining the struggle in defense of their teachers and their right to a quality education. The outcome of this grassroots movement will have an enormous impact on the future of resistance to high stakes testing around the country.  Get the inside story :
Featuring:
Diane Ravitch : Educational policy analyst, NYU professor*, former US Assistant Secretary of Education
Wayne Au : UW-Bothell Assistant Professor, Member of Rethinking Schools editorial board, author of Unequal By Design: High-Stakes Testing and the Standardization of Inequality (Critical Social Thought)
Jesse Hagopian : Garfield HS teacher, founding member of Social Equality Educators
Dora Taylor: Founding member of Parents Across America-Seattle, editor of Seattle Education blog
George Lovell : Harry Bridges Endowed Chair in Labor Studies
See Also: www.scrapthemap.wordpress.com
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